Thankful Thursday

Hi Peeps

Today was supposed to be a really good day.

 It turned out to be less awesome than I hoped.

It happens.

Life happens.

Still, the day had a saving grace-

Dad came home and had lunch with me.

It was really fun. 

We have hit this place in life where we are starting to 

talk about dreams again.

You know, things we would like to do in the future.

For a really good while we were so busy being the parents

that there was little time for having dreams of our own.

When we first started talking about things we were seriously rusty!

Bu now it is super fun!

And it felt like a cheat- getting away with something,

having lunch together in the middle of the day

 in the middle of the week.

Good times!

So I have been thinking for a while about how to cultivate

more gratitude in my life.

It came to me to start keeping track here once each week.

I hope that you will join me on Thankful Thursdays, 

perhaps in the comments?

The pictures above are just a few of the 

things that I am Thankful for.

Here are some more:

1. My family. Always and forever

2. Clean sheets. The bomb!

3. Bright sunny winter days

4. Homemade bread. Cause yum!

5. Chat. If you are family you know who I mean.

6. Something green growing in the winter. 

Grandma bought me a hyacinth and I can't wait for it to bloom. 

They smell amazing!

7. My cute house

8. My camera (Thank you, Mia!)

9. Unexpected lunch with my husband

10. Peace. My house is peaceful and it feels heavenly.

What are you thankful for today?

Love you to the moon and back!

Mom

Winter Dinner in Forest City, and How To Be a Human

Hi All! 

Yesterday Dad and I went out to forest City to the 

annual Stockade Dinner. Sam decided to stay

 at church since he has missed The Stockade

 the last couple of years.

It was an absolutely stunning Minnesota winter day.

The sun was shining, the sky was blue,

 and it was so pleasantly mild outside.

As you know it is a beautiful drive out there.

It was fun to visit with the many people we see at

 the stockade.It was also fun to try

 to figure out who they are and what they do

 there when they are not in pioneer garb.

We had hors d'oeuvres and lemonade 

(others had beer. Lots of beer.)

We sat with the other musicians and had a really great dinner.

Then Bob spoke about how things went this last year

 and goals for the future. They are adding

 a food place out by the land office to help take 

some of the burden off of the food places inside.

The Stockade has gotten so big!

Also, a private company has hired The Stockade for

 Friday afternoon for the next two years.

That means it is now a three day event rather than two.

Crazy!

They handed out a few pictures and this is one of them.

The color is a little off because it was obviously

 a bright sunny day, and I scanned it crooked.

 I still love it a lot!

The only thing that would make it better would be if Sam was in it.

I am assuming he is there in spirit. 

What a happy place this has been for us. 

I am so grateful for being included and for the part it 

has played in us drawing closer as a family.

I know there are times when we all feel like aliens

 in this hard world.Even (or maybe especially) 

among the other humans.

I just want you to remember a couple of things:

 We are all aliens here. 

We are Heavenly Father's children, 

and as such we belong in a much kinder

 and more heavenly place.

For some reason we sometimes are allowed to

 see a broader view of this world.

I can't explain it but I know that it is a gift.

 Please don't ever change to fit better in this world.

Please be the kind, considerate, loving, 

aware people that you are.

I think Bob and Betty are a really great example 

of that. I really believe that a big reason 

The Stockade has become so successful is

 because of the love and kindness and

 inclusiveness that they show to everyone.

They are such an example of The Light of Christ.

I found this awesome quote from Maya Angelou

 and thought it fit perfectly.

Do that!

I love our family so much.

I love you and am proud of the people you choose to be.

Love, 

Mom

PS We got to drive across the old bridge today.

Fun!

And the view up and down the river was glorious.

The Symphony of Life

I found this amazing bit of writing by William Henry Channing. Have you ever heard of him?
I am probably admitting my ignorance by telling you that I never had.
However, I can recognize something lovely when I read it.
It actually makes me think of the 13th Article of Faith,
 in that we seek for the virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy things.
This is the kind of person I want to be. These are the things that I want to seek for.
I hope you can hear the beauty and eloquence in his words. 

Love you!

Mom

“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather 

than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy,

 not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think 

quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, to 

babes and sages, with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, to all 

bravely await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the 

spiritual unbidden and unconscious grow up through the 

common. This is to be my symphony.” 

― William Henry Channing

Living The Life

Happy New Year Family!

We had a little different New Year's Day.

Still awesome.

We have had a party the

 last couple of years, but it didn't work this 

time, so we did our own thing.

Part of that "own thing" was to go

 to the lake, skating.

And it was marvelous.

Short, because of achy feet.

But marvelous.

Mia being awesome

It was a really beautiful winter day in the upper 20's.

More awesomeness

We are so fortunate to live where we do.

We had the place almost to ourselves.

We wondered if we were super scary, because

 the few people who were there left when we came.

 Haha!

I really love that they put a Christmas tree in the rink.

I wished I could skate so much!

Doing a dance?

My Dr. says I can skate next year.

A little fancy dancy?

So fancy

something was clearly amusing

Like Dad's double hat?

I especially like this one of Mandy and Mia.

Classic Dad: a little crack-the-whip

I love this one!

Strike a pose

I just hung around the snowy perimeter of the rink.

I didn't want to take the chance of slipping.

Ouch!

Mom and Mia selfie.

Ah yeah!

The Mom and The Dad

Disclaimer: I don't know this guy.

I pretended to take a picture of King's house so he wouldn't 

think I was a creep. It is just such a classic Minnesota

winter picture I couldn't resist.

And there's King's House so I am not a liar. 

We asked a former teacher of Sam's to take a family photo for us.

I couldn't even help but take some sky pictures.

It was just so dramatic and lovely.

We live in such a beautiful place.

Again with the classic Minnesota

The skating rink at beautiful buffalo Lake

I will hopefully get some Christmas pictures posted here as well.

I was just so happy with these pictures I wanted to share them

right away. 

I am sad for Christmas break to end, sad for Dad to go back to 

work, sad for Mandy and Mia to head back out west.

 I guess all good things come to an end?

I am already looking forward to next year when we can hopefully

 be all together as a family.

But.

I do find it exciting this time of year:

The new beginning

the fresh start

the renewal.

I like the idea of starting again. I know with

the sacrament that we have that opportunity

every week, but I feel it so keenly at the new year.

Also,

we spent some time talking about setting 

goals and then actually doing it.

One of the goals we set for the whole family, is to

go to the temple in August and do a baptism session.

If you don't have a recommend start working on it so 

we can all go together.

Good idea?

We thought so.

Love you all like crazy!

Mom